Shortest Constitution Ever

[Southwest Asia]

Preamble:

We, the People and Nations of The North Pacific, do establish the following Union:

Article I: Leadership
A. The Delegate
1. The Delegate shall be the Executive power of the North Pacific.

2. The Delegate may only assume power through the majority consent of the Regional Assembly by election.

3. The Delegate cannot enforce any law or take any action that would violate this Constitution.

Article II: Law
A. Legislation
1. All legislation shall be written at a later time governing the functions of the region and shall be grouped together into categories for convenience.

2. No legislation may violate this Constitution except to abolish it. Such an action will take a 75% majority.

3. A Regional Assembly shall be established for laws and elections. The Regional Assembly shall write all laws.

B. Rights
1. All nations have the right to a fair trial.

2. All nations have the right to petition.

3. All nations shall be presumed innocent until proven guilty.

4. Additional rights shall be enumerated later.

C. Judicial Branch
1. There shall be an independent judicial branch set up to interpret this Constitution and all laws. It shall have the power to strike down unconstitutional laws.

 

[Ermarian]

3. The Delegate cannot enforce any law or take any action that would violate this Constitution.

"The constitution requires that you do not violate the constitution" sounds like it could be trimmed further. Unless it follows the "legal disclaimer" philosophy where the delegate can do everything they aren't forbidden from doing.

Otherwise a wonderfully concise document.

 

[Romanoffia (Guest)]

The idea is that the delegate, and the government as a whole is only permitted to do what is specifically enumerated. IOW, the Delegate and the government cannot do anything they do not have the specific power to do. It's called reserved rights.

Hence, the people can do whatever they want unless the constitution prohibits it and the government/delegate can only do what is spelled out for them in the Constitution.

What I am trying for is a Constitution that limits the Delegate and the government.

 

[Southwest Asia]

And mine does that, while being more flexible.

 

[Romanoffia (Guest)]

Yeah, but it doesn't restrict the government enough. Having the Delegate as the "final executive power" creates a dictator because the Delegate would have the authority to pick and choose what laws or parts of the Constitution to enforce - a very dangerous proposition in the opposite direction with the same results as we see with L&C.

The trick here is to limit government and then let the laws evolve in compliance with the Constitution. That avoids the need to amend the Constitution every five minutes.

 

[Southwest Asia]

There, the word "final" is removed.

 

[mr_sniffles]

Isn't A1 a little too obvious? Can you be delegate without having your UN nation in the North Pacific?

Also this Constitution effectively legalized dictatorship. A simple "Delegate may only assume power through the majority consent of RA by election" should suffice.

 

[Southwest Asia]

More edits!

 

[mr_sniffles]

If we had strong Legal Code beside it, I'd be all for it.

 

[Romanoffia (Guest)]

If we had strong Legal Code beside it, I'd be all for it.

And that is one of my points - You create a constitution and then pass legislation instead of constantly modifying the Constitution for every new situation.

 

[Southwest Asia]

Right, but this Constitution would be perfect for that, because it makes the legislation easier to modify, since the departments aren't part of the Constitution themselves.

 

[Sydia]

Duh. You forgot the most important part.

Article III: No fat chicks.

 

[Southwest Asia]

That needs to be codified?

 

[Romanoffia (Guest)]

Duh. You forgot the most important part.

Article III: No fat chicks.

That's an inherent principle that is taken as a given!

 

[mr_sniffles]

Bump!

Just don't want it to slip through before it goes head to head with Roman's version.

 

[Al Homa]

Isn't A1 a little too obvious? Can you be delegate without having your UN nation in the North Pacific?

Also this Constitution effectively legalized dictatorship. A simple "Delegate may only assume power through the majority consent of RA by election" should suffice.

It's been edited, so I dont know what was there before but maybe we should make it that you can only run for election if your UN is located in The North Pacific?

That would make it harder for regional assembly members who are more active in other regions to be able to take the delegacy and fly their own regions flag in the North Pacific (as many UCRs have tried to do). It wouldnt prevent it but it would be a useful safeguard!